I trained as a computer scientist. Following a joint postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, I joined Washington University in St. Louis in 2010. Currently, I am an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. My research interests include computational and systems neuroscience, pattern recognition, sensor-based machine olfaction and bio-inspired intelligent systems. I am interested in understanding how brain processes complex sensory signals (especially the olfactory cues), and to identify fundamental principles of neural computation. I use both experimental and theoretical approaches to achieve these goals. In parallel, my lab is also involved with the development of novel neuromorphic devices (such as an 'electronic nose') and algorithms that have potential applications in biomedical, homeland security and bio-robotic domains.